The US says it will reopen its borders with Mexico and Canada to fully vaccinated travellers from November.
In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says it will allow travel for non-essential purposes via land and ferry crossings.
From January 2022, it will also require proof of vaccination for any travel over these crossings, essential or not.
The US has restricted travel from its northern and southern neighbours since March 2020, due to the Covid pandemic.
But President Joe Biden’s administration recently revealed that restrictions on fully jabbed air travellers would be eased in November.
The current rules bar entry to most non-US citizens who have been to the UK, China, India, South Africa, Iran, Brazil and a number of European countries within the last 14 days.
In a statement, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas says his department was “pleased to be taking steps to resume regular travel in a safe and sustainable manner.”But he did not say when the changes would come into effect.
Last week the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said all visitors must receive vaccines approved or recognized for emergency use by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
At present, vaccines developed by Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna have been approved in the US.
The WHO has also supported these three, along with others made by AstraZeneca-Oxford, Sinopharm and Sinovac.
